Sharing Great Content At Every Stage of Social Selling

When you think of social selling, you think of content. But what sales teams should always bear in mind is their audience. The sales funnel is made up of numerous touch points. So regardless of the quality of content, it needs to be used at the right moment; otherwise it could fall to deaf ears. Here are some examples of how to share great content at every stage.

Early Days

When audiences are new to your brand, your primary goal should be to educate and inspire. Great content needs to be attention-grabbing, intriguing and engaging. Examples include storytelling that showcases existing customers’ experiences of the brand, and that sparks curiosity among new audiences, or digestible industry insights such as blogs and infographics. In other words, content that gets audiences thinking and drives interest in the value your company has to offer.

Middle of the Road

Once leads have been identified, they need to be nurtured by the nitty-gritty content. It’s also important to share content that sets your brand apart from competitors. At this time, many prospects will be making comparisons. For this reason, employee-oriented content can play a key role at this point. Content that demonstrates how different teams innovate and what specific employees have achieved allows prospects to see how your company is unique. And the more a prospect knows about a company, the more likely they are to choose it.

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The Home Stretch

Just because prospects are near the end of the sales funnel doesn’t mean they’re easy to win over. The stage where you’re offering demos and free trials is where content such as case studies and testimonials comes in. It is content that allows prospects to see what you have done for others and imagine what you can do for them. By now, your audience will expect you to understand their specific needs, which is why providing personalized content is incredibly important.

And Beyond

Of course, content provision shouldn’t stop as soon as a deal is done. On the contrary, it’s important to continue sharing with customers. This is because they are often the people who will recommend your company to others. At this stage, you should even invite them to submit user-generated content, in order to build a two-way relationship that makes them feel valued and allows you to use their insights to enrich your marketing activity. When you invite and promote customers’ feedback, you maintain their trust by demonstrating that you value their loyalty.

While it’s true that customers call the shots on social media, they buyer’s journey is not one that sales teams can’t influence. On the contrary, when the right approach is taken and social sellers understand how to approach prospects at different stages, they can play an active role in guiding audiences towards informed purchasing decisions.